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I am a novice turner and up until now have done spindle turning for Windsor chair legs and parts. I would like to try bowl turning with a chuck. Being left handed it would seem awkward holding the tool to reach the inside of the bowl. I could stand on the other of the lathe but would have to reach over the top to get to the controls. How do others do this? Thanks, Tom
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With practice you can turn both ways. I am right handed but sometimes turn opposite when convenient.
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(01-31-2021, 08:32 PM)Tom Wiarda Wrote: I am a novice turner and up until now have done spindle turning for Windsor chair legs and parts. I would like to try bowl turning with a chuck. Being left handed it would seem awkward holding the tool to reach the inside of the bowl. I could stand on the other of the lathe but would have to reach over the top to get to the controls. How do others do this? Thanks, Tom
I'm a Leftie too. I didn't have a problem just seemed natural to hold the tool in whichever hand was best. To reach the inside of the bowl I hold the handle in my right hand. on the outside i use push cuts with my left & pull cuts with my right.
I think turning is one of those ambidextrous hobbies.
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another new turner who is also naturally lefty. Started to rough blanks right handed, to get a feel for it, and when I started on bowls in December was forced to go right handed for some of it. It is definitely awkward at first, and I'm not as strong or precise righty, but it is getting better. Rather than fight uphill both ways, in working around the right handed set up, try to embrace it and do stuff righty. You will find that there is still plenty of time that going lefty is either better or more comfortable.
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(01-31-2021, 08:32 PM)Tom Wiarda Wrote: I am a novice turner and up until now have done spindle turning for Windsor chair legs and parts. I would like to try bowl turning with a chuck. Being left handed it would seem awkward holding the tool to reach the inside of the bowl. I could stand on the other of the lathe but would have to reach over the top to get to the controls. How do others do this? Thanks, Tom
If you can rotate the head or move it to the end, and have a
locking reversible chuck, you can turn left using the same tool motions as those with right-hand approaches. You don't get the safety benefit of a tailstock unless you stand on the opposite side, however.
Lefties aren't only at a disadvantage at the lathe, as I discovered when one of my young sergeants wanted to do a couple bookcases. When she started to face the board on the jointer, I realized how much of a disadvantage being a leftie could be. Tablesaw, too, though she was a great left wall partner on the racquetball court....
Better to follow the leader than the pack. Less to step in.
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(02-01-2021, 01:51 PM)MichaelMouse Wrote: If you can rotate the head or move it to the end, and have a locking reversible chuck, you can turn left using the same tool motions as those with right-hand approaches. You don't get the safety benefit of a tailstock unless you stand on the opposite side, however.
Lefties aren't only at a disadvantage at the lathe, as I discovered when one of my young sergeants wanted to do a couple bookcases. When she started to face the board on the jointer, I realized how much of a disadvantage being a leftie could be. Tablesaw, too, though she was a great left wall partner on the racquetball court....
It can be tricky with some rifles too when they eject the shell onto your arm.
Lefties tend to be more adept at using their right hand then righties do with their left.
I spent many years on the drafting board where all the machines, whether pantograph style or sliding track, are right handed.
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I too am a leftie. I spent much of the last 50 years in a metal machine shop and a heavy truck garage and neither place cared in the slightest what hand you held a pencil with. You used what you had to use.
Now that I'm retired and have time for turning, I totally ignore whether I'm cutting "left-handed" or "right-handed" and hold the tool the way it needs to be held to achieve the cut I'm attempting.
If a particular cut is not real comfortable, I practice doing more of it under the theory that it might be the only choice so I'd better learn how to be effective with my tools.
Now if I could only learn how to use a skew. <sigh>
We do segmented turning, not because it is easy, but because it is hard.
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Does your lathe have the ability for outboard turning? You know, on the left side of the headstock. You’d need a rest support, but you can make one for either floor or table support.
Tom
“This place smells like that odd combination of flop sweat, hopelessness, aaaand feet"
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I am ambidextrous. I can do most anything left handed, but I prefer my right hand. Came in handy in sports. What MM says would be my approach if I really wanted to turn left-handed. The locking part of the reversible chuck is very important. Since you have to reverse the rotation of the chuck to turn left handed (standing on the opposite side compared to a righty), you really don't want the chuck to unscrew itself when reversed. The other disadvantage is that normally, the controls aren't moveable to the other side, so you won't be able to turn things on an off or adjust speeds easily without some sort of remote.
Still Learning,
Allan Hill
